My Sewing Day

Not that I don't sew everyday but I just need a title that tells me it is not a BoM or linky day. I had a search widget on my blog for a while but it just seemed to stop working one day so I took it off. Sometimes I want to refer to past posts because they have links or ideas or projects that I want to look at again so instead of a search widget I have tried to sort out my labels into nice general specific groups like knitting or cross stitch or the name of a linky party. At least I will have a chance of finding what I need that way and hopefully it will make sense to visitors too.
So no linkies or sew alongs today. I can't guarantee there won't be an affiliate link somewhere. Only joking.

I went a bit overboard with the links on my Craftsy post but I was quite excited about it.

Today I have finished the pink granny bag I started some time in the distant past. It was so easy to finish with the round handles. I made two pieces that gave me a 3 inch fold over and it went together easily.

I have been wanting to make a start on a quilt project so I pulled out the Mrs Greenthumbs fabrics and panel. I was struggling to work out exactly how to show off the panels without just putting a sashing round them.
I decided on a square in square economy block. With the panel picture in the middle the block is 24" square.

I think I will put some green or black sashing between 4 blocks then add some hat fabric as a border and turn it into a lap quilt.

I rediscovered my quiltcalc app while playing with this block. I got the measurement for the hat fabric triangles with it but had to work out the big triangles myself. I am thinking I will make use of the quiltcalc and make some different sized square in square blocks and economy blocks. They always look so good. The app is by Robert Kaufman and is free from the app store for iPads and iPhones.

The other morning I was woken by the local bird gang. They really put on a show. That's the street light outside my place.

I wrote about my Hundred Days Calendar today in my organising blog. It is a great help with those resolutions we like to make. I finally feel like my yoga is a morning habit now.

I am off to Brisbane tomorrow and a bit of a holiday in Sydney. DH will be trying to console Stumpy while I am gone. He hates it when I go away. We bought him some special treat foods to distract him a bit.
I will be trying to look in on the blogging world while I am away but only if I get time.

Comment options:
Flickr
Pinterest

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

New Fabric and another book

I was very excited today because I got my parcel from eQuilter. com. They had a sale and I got 4 yards of lovely fabric and four panels for only AU$44 including the postage. I signed up for their newsletter so I won't miss any sales they have. Even their full price fabrics are sometimes $2 cheaper than other online stores.
I have wanted to buy more Mrs Greenthumbs before it disappears so I bought 2 yards of the hats at US$3.58 a yd and 1 yard of the seed packets at full price of US$8.95. The panels were US$2.60 each. There was so much there that I wanted to buy but I have to save my money for my trip. Funny isn't it! I will be so glad when my trips are over so I can start spending my pocket money on a whim. Not really. But it is hard to keep my money for things I haven't seen yet. I didn't think $44 would blow the budget and it was for things that I have wanted for a while.

The post cards were too nice to resist :)

One of the blocks on the Mrs Greenthumbs panel

Another panel that I couldn't resist!

I have been playing with the little triangular thread catcher pattern. I put the link to the tutorial in my sidebar. I didn't read the instructions very closely so I made 3 big triangles with wadding in them and thought 'How is this going to work?'. I need another triangle. So now I have 4 sewn big triangles and I thought it was time to check the tutorial. Well, what do you know! You only need one triangle to make the thread catcher. It is very tiny. I don't think it will be suitable for me to throw threads in but it would make a great container for loose change or ear rings on the bedside table. I have several that I will show for Christmas through the year. I also finished another item for 1 Xmas item a month.

I took my sewing machine and overlocker up to the quilting group so I could make a pair of trousers. I classified them as quilting because I need them to wear on my trip to buy fabric. I nearly finished them and now all I have to do is the hems. I will do pictures of my travel clothes later. Today I have to work on the woolen blazer.

Yesterday DH thought it would be nice to take me to a fabric shop that he learnt about from a lady he sat next to while he was waiting for me at the post office the other day. It is called East Coast Fabrics.
This will really only interest the Brisbane ladies.

Springwood Warehouse
Unit 3B, Pacific Place
10 Old Chatswood Rd
Springwood Q 4127
(Next to Tender Disposals)

Phone: 07 3208 1930
You have to get onto the service road from Chatswood Rd.
They had a large range of quilting fabrics at $5.99/m and lots of dress making fabrics. Some lovely silks for $7.95/m.

I have joined up two book clubs online. One requires the 6 titles to have particular words in them and the other is 50 books in 50 weeks. I have just finished my second book this year. Even Money fits the 'something carried in your purse' criteria. I picked it by running my eye along the library shelf til I found one of the key words. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. It was a bit humorous as well as being a murder mystery and the characters were very likeable. A great read if you like coffee table mysteries.
I think I will have to get more than one book out on my next library visit and because I have to do a bit of catchup I might also have to get some shorter books :)

Finally, I have another pattern that I will share on the 25th. I made it up when I discovered that the triangle thread catcher was a bit small. I may even tizzy it up a bit with some stitchery.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Pincushion update

Hi everyone doing the pincushion. I have just received my pure wool felt in the mail and I ran upstairs to make my pincushion top. I used some of my felt and some of the wool Fiona sent me. It only has to go across the ranges so Fiona should have it in a few days.

I also received my fabric from the Old Country Store Fabrics. I bought some Arnold's Attic to do the borders on my charm square quilt and I added in a yard of Mrs Greenthumbs to get the maximum out of the postage charge. It was half the price I would pay here even with the postage. I try to support my local shops as much as possible but I would be silly to knock back half price.

Here are my felts. They were a good price too.
Here is the site I bought from http://www.etsy.com/shop/materialevidenceshop


Happy Quilting,
Val